Yesterday, March 9, I heard swans for the first time. They left pretty late last year so I don't think they went further than the south of the country or across the Baltic Sea perhaps. They're back anyhow The Whooper Swan is the national bird of Finland.

The hedgehogs are also waking up.

If you see a hedgehog, don’t feed it quite yet!

Finland’s unseasonably warm weather has encouraged the country’s hedgehogs to crawl out of their winter dens early this year. If you should happen to see one of these cute spiny critters out and about, don’t be too eager to feed it! They are likely just out for a breath of fresh air, testing to see if spring really has sprung.

(03-10-2014, 03:47 PM)Octo Wrote: We don't have any snow to melt amazingly enough. And we're going to have to get Mason a tick collar very soon. If we have a dry spring there won't be a mosquito invasion and less ticks.

We used to put gold fish in the pond, they'd eat mosquito larvae and we rarely had mosquitoes but the pond has dried up the last couple of summers. I'm hoping this winter's snow pack will be enough to keep it a pond not a mud bog

(03-10-2014, 03:54 PM)Shadow Wrote: We used to put gold fish in the pond, they'd eat mosquito larvae and we rarely had mosquitoes but the pond has dried up the last couple of summers. I'm hoping this winter's snow pack will be enough to keep it a pond not a mud bog

(03-10-2014, 03:47 PM)Octo Wrote: We don't have any snow to melt amazingly enough. And we're going to have to get Mason a tick collar very soon. If we have a dry spring there won't be a mosquito invasion and less ticks.

15 minutes after I posted that an article was posted on our local news, "The tick is awake", I guess some local dog was found with a tick. That has got to be a record.

(03-10-2014, 03:47 PM)Octo Wrote: We don't have any snow to melt amazingly enough. And we're going to have to get Mason a tick collar very soon. If we have a dry spring there won't be a mosquito invasion and less ticks.

15 minutes after I posted that an article was posted on our local news, "The tick is awake", I guess some local dog was found with a tick. That has got to be a record.

Unfortunately some of these blood sucking parasitic ticks are active all year long even during winter...

Quote:Yes. [Lyme] season begins in spring, when the nymphal, or young, ticks appear. These nymphs are very small and difficult to see. The season continues through the summer and even during the fall and winter.